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Malala's Improbable Journey To Nobel Peace Prize

Malala Yousafzai poses with a bouquet after speaking during a media
conference at the Library of Birmingham, in Birmingham, England, Friday,
Oct. 10, 2014, after she was named as winner of The Nobel Peace Prize.
The Nobel Peace Prize 2014, is awarded jointly to Malala Yousafzai of
Pakistan and Kailash Satyarthi of India, for risking their lives to
fight for children’s rights. Malala was shot in the head by a Taliban
gunman two-years ago in Pakistan for insisting that girls have the right
to an education.

The 17-year-old Pakistani girl shot by the Taliban
for daring to want an education learned she had become the youngest
Nobel laureate ever Friday while attending classes at Edgbaston High
School for girls in Birmingham, the city in central England that she now
calls home.

The teenager had traveled to Birmingham for medical treatment after
being targeted by the Taliban for standing up to the group's hard-line
interpretation of Islam that limits girls' access to education. She was
shot while returning home from school in Pakistan's volatile Swat Valley
two years ago, almost to the day.

"This award is for all those children who are
voiceless, whose voices need to be heard. I speak for them and I stand
up with them," she said at a news conference Friday at Birmingham
Library. "They have rights. They have the right to receive a quality
education. They have the right not to suffer from child labor, not to
suffer from child trafficking. They have the right to live a happy
life."

She said it was an honor to share the prize with
Kailash Satyarthi of India, 60, who has spent a lifetime standing up
against child slavery and exploitation. And she invited the prime
ministers of their two rival nations, India and Pakistan, to attend the
Nobel awards ceremony.

Malala's case won worldwide recognition, and the
teen became a symbol for the struggle for women's rights in Pakistan. In
an indication of her reach, she spoke before the United Nations and
made the shortlist for Time magazine's "Person of the Year" for 2012.

But the journey was simply improbable. On Oct. 9,
2012, Malala, then 15, climbed into the back of a pick-up truck used to
transport Swat Valley children home from school. They laughed and talked
as the truck rumbled over roads lined with pot holes.

As they approached a narrow bridge over a
garbage-strewn stream, a masked man with a gun suddenly stopped the
truck. Another man with a pistol jumped into the back. "Who is Malala?"
he shouted. The girls did not answer but heads automatically swiveled
toward her. The man raised his pistol. One bullet hit Malala on the top
of her head. Two other students were also hit, less seriously.

Malala was transferred to a military hospital near
Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, as her head swelled dangerously. Her
father, Ziauddin, was certain his daughter would not survive the night.
He sent a message to his brother-in-law in Swat to prepare a coffin.

Pakistani doctors removed a bullet that entered her
head and traveled toward her spine before she was flown to Britain for
more specialized brain trauma care. She woke up a week later at Queen
Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.

She says she regained consciousness with one
thought: "Thank God I'm not dead." Malala gradually regained her sight
and her voice. She was reunited with her parents. Soon there were
pictures and stuffed animals at her side. She sent messages to
well-wishers.

Three months later she walked out of the hospital,
smiling shyly as she cautiously strode down the corridor. "She is quite
well and happy on returning home — as we all are," her father told The
Associated Press at the time.

Pakistan made Malala's father its education attache
in Birmingham, giving the family stability and Malala a safe place to
go to school. She went back to school as soon as she could, confessing
that math was her least favorite subject. All the while, she campaigned
for the rights of children to an education — meeting President Barack
Obama, attending rights conferences, becoming the keynote speaker at
corporate events in London. She began rubbing elbows with people who had
the power and the money to help her realize her dreams.

All along, she delighted many by simply being
young, determined and most of all, herself. At a Vodafone conference
celebrating women, she confided that she didn't have a cell phone. The
crowd chuckled at the notion of a teenager who admitted she had no need
for a phone.

With British journalist Christina Lamb, she
co-authored a memoir, "I am Malala," that made clear that she was, in
fact, also a regular teenager. She loves the TV show "Ugly Betty," whose
main character works at a fashion magazine. She likes pop star Justin
Bieber, watches the television cooking show "MasterChef."

And on Friday, the people who helped her on the
journey — and those just touched by her story along the way — couldn't
help but be swept up by the magic of it all. "Malala is an inspiration
for the many women in Afghanistan and Pakistan who have been fighting
for their rights and struggling against the misogynous policies of the
Taliban and local warlords," said David Cortright, co-author of "Afghan
Women Speak" and a professor at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.

"As we know, people learn best from personal
stories. Malala's story is a powerful antidote to extremist propaganda,
and the Nobel Prize reinforces its impact," he said. As news of her
Nobel spread, doctors in Birmingham offered congratulations, noting her
focus and dedication. And the people of the city that threw its arms out
to welcome her simply nodded their heads. No surprise at this news.
She's liked and well known in Birmingham, a city that Malala has
embraced, proudly describing herself as a "Brummie," like other locals.

"Sure, puts a bit of pride into it," said retired
aluminum worker John Mullan, 78, of the news the city's adopted daughter
had won a Nobel Prize. "She's just young girl who stood up to them.
Many other people wouldn't have done that."

Malala remains determined to return to Pakistan one
day and enter politics. On Friday, her growing polish was clear. She
spoke from the heart in three languages, offering an almost uncanny
combination of a teenager with a vision and a diplomat with a platform.
She did need a box, however, so that she could be
seen over the podium. She will split a $1.1 million cash award with
co-winner Satyarthi. Malala said the joint prize sends a message that
the people of their rival nations — and Hindus and Muslims — can work
together.
"We support each other," she said. Then, standing
alongside her parents and brothers, she posed for family photographs
while the world's media begged them to look their way. Her normally
reticent mother, who has more than once hidden when cameras emerged,
stood alongside, beaming.
What everyone wanted to know was: How did she learn
the news? How did a schoolgirl who has just been pulled out of a
chemistry class react upon hearing she had just received the world's
most prestigious prize?
"I felt really honored," she said. There was
probably some jumping up and down, but she didn't mention that. Then,
she said, she turned around and headed back to class. She was back in
time for physics.

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